City Street Trees Pay Their Way

Charleston, SC (August 8, 2011)- The homeowners at Congress and Hagood streets didn’t like the oak blocking their view of The Citadel’s football stadium just down the street, so they had it cut down. Now Tobin Stewart and Daniel Tollens have been ordered by a city court to pay $3,200 in restitution. They’re the latest to learn just how seriously the city of Charleston takes its street trees. And why not?

A study by the U.S. Forest Service found that for every dollar the city spends maintaining its approximately 16,000 street trees — trees along streets, in city parks and on other city lands — it receives about $1.37 worth of benefits. Trees cool buildings and sidewalks, reducing summer energy costs. They soak up stormwater, helping the city’s occasionally inadequate drainage system. They remove carbon dioxide from the air. That’s why no fewer than nine city employees have full-time jobs pruning, irrigating and monitoring these trees.

And while the city’s urban forest is relatively young and healthy, its chief forester wants to see more diversity among its species. Live oaks, crape myrtles and controversial Sabal palms make up more than 70 percent of its trees.